Virality is the new term that Medicine has bestowed to Business. However, as marketing always does (make things sound better!) virality now has a positive image. Being viral in business, means being healthy!

That’s why Twitter and Facebook has gained such a tremendous attention in the business world. They are the perfect contaminants of our information consumption. Always in a good sense…

So what’s more viral? Twitter or Facebook? My personal experience on this: Twitter. In only 2 weeks of starting this blog followers have already reached 150! The facebook fan page is still under 100 fans but there might be some reasons to that:

Reason 1: People are currently more excited on what’s going on on Twitter rather than on Facebook. It’s just the new trend.

Reason 2: Twitter is less aggressive than Facebook and people seem to appreciate this. Twitter gives people the choice. No one spams you to become a follower, sending those fb suggestion emails you never read. Hint: Permision Marketing.

Reason 3: Twitter is more rewarding! What usually happens on Twitter is that once you follow someone, he or she “pays you back” by following you as well. It is a more give-and-get space, which by default speaks to people’s minds.

There is still a question that hasn’t been answered yet: which one is more meaningful? Followers or Fans? I’ ll keep you posted on that…

Are you tired to find out that everything you do in life, you find out there is someone else doing it as well. Are  you trying to figure out how some others, like Steve Jobs for example, comes up with so unique and innovative ideas? If so, check this out first…

While Steve Jobs was presenting the iPad, the new revolutionary Apple tablet, another 9 alternatives were gaining more awareness about their existence! The greatest example it could arise after my previous post on entrepreneurship, where I discuss why you shouldn’t be discouraged to start a business when you find out that your unique idea is not so unique.

Competition is to business, what penicillin is to cheese. Sounds bad but it actually makes it so much better! Never avoid and most importantly never ignore your competition. Competition is there to give you guidance, energy and passion to succeed. To show you the way and give you the chance to differentiate your shelf from the crowd and win. Check out Seth Godin’s blogpost about the ubiquity of competition which provides a great guide (well… Seth is “Great” anyway) on how can you beat your competition and you will realize how simple it really is!

Do you believe that Steve and Apple didn’t know about those 9 alternative products? Of course they knew, but they reacted. They created such a buzz for their new and unique product that even media did not dare to compare it with anything else out there, in fear of being inaccurate. Then the iPad comes out and media are announcing they knew there are another 9 like this!

Too late… Steve won the game again…

Yesterday I had one of those conversations, I always enjoy to have with friends who are thinking to start a business. While the reasons to start a business varies for each individual, I have noticed that there are always, always three common threats that makes everyone feel the same frisson of fear.

“What if I fail? How am I going to pay back all this debt?”

That’s probably the most common phrase I hear, and is actually such a logical thought, however there is flaw. When you are investing a bunch of money in a new business you are probably going to buy some equipment, some material, inventory or even a whole building depending on the type of business you want to start. This part of the capital is not totally lost; it’s just a transformation of money from paper to something solid. Then you might have to spent some more money on some less substantial investments such as licences, fees, insurance or advertising. The money you spent on those kind of stuff is definitely evaporated, however it’s not or at least it shouldn’t be a big fraction out of the total initial investment.

Aftermath: The money you are going to loose in the unfortunate case of failing a business is going to be a fraction out of the total capital invested. Try to calculate that fraction and see if you can handle it. Most of the cases you will.

“I finally found out there are so may other businesses like mine. I am not sure I should do it.”

If this is a reason for you to give up, then give up. However, you probably never realized what running a business means. If you believe that all it takes to be a successful business is selling a unique product or service, you got that wrong. That’s just one part of it, and by the way the easiest thing for your competitors to imitate. Focus on how can you always be a better company regardless of your competition. How can you have the best customer service, the lower prices, the best quality or whatever it takes to differentiate your self from the crowd.

Aftermath: I guess the keyword here is clear: Best. Try to be the best, not the one. In fact if you are not alone it means there is a market for your product.

“The Golden Ages are over. This is a tough era for business. ”

That’s probably my favourite excuse to argue against! But I see how people are getting frustrated. They hear and read all these stories from successful entrepreneurs that did it this way or the other, who were lucky or smart enough to realize the right timing for them to start a business, bla, bla, bla… Well guess what: it’s easy to talk about what worked in the past and make fancy stories, but there is no way to predict the future and tell if something is going to work. No one can predict the future. Well…except Warren Buffet, but all of those successful entrepreneurs you know, had the same fears like you, however they did not stick to them and started!

Aftermath: There are not Golden Ages! There are always Golden Businesses, and if you want to own one of them, find a way to start it, work hard to run it and come back later in 10 years to talk us about how smart you were to see it’s going to work!

Anyone could easily come up with some great arguments about the risks associated by giving everyone the right to discuss openly about your businesses and products through social media channels, however, is it really an additional risk factor? Well, think of this for a moment… Don’t people talk about your businesses and products anyway? Don’t they interact with other people everyday? Aren’t they doing it through social media channels as well?

I guess you see the flaw here. Wouldn’t be awesome if you could track in real time what people are saying about you? There you go. Here’s your tool! And again, you could fairly wondering: “Ok… but what about those negative comments that might arouse? Should I host them on my own web page?”

Well, here’s how things are: Social Media are not going to make your business better or worst. You are the master of your own business reputation. If you are a good sport on earth, you are going to be a good fellow on the clouds. Businesses need to understand that Internet has just caused a societal change in the communication methods. There are not any hidden treasures or quicksands up there.

If you believe that your company worths people’s positive buzz, then go for it. Open your wings and fly! In fact, you now have a unique way to track and respond to your customers additional claims and requests.

On the other hand, if you are not so sure about your business reputation… mmm, maybe you need to consider re-engineering that “reputation aircraft” first, before attempting a take-off…